Die Linke: Bundestag should not only adopt a resolution on Armenian
Genocide but also confess Germany's complicity in this issue

by Marianna Mkrtchyan

Thursday, May 19, 15:12

The German Bundestag should not only adopt a resolution on the
Armenian Genocide but also confess Germany's complicity in this issue,
Bundestag member Ulla Jelpke (Die Linke) said at a press conference in
Yerevan on May 19.

"During the Bundestag debates on the Armenian Genocide resolution,
there were some attempts to blur Germany's complicity in this issue
despite the numerous proofs that Berlin was not only aware of its
ally's actions, but also supported it," she said.

Ulla Jelpke is convinced that on June 2, 2016, the German Bundestag
will adopt a resolution on recognition of the Armenian Genocide,
because today many in Germany are discontent with the policy of
Chancellor Angela Merkel, who, she said, concluded a deal with Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Jelpke added that by this resolution
Bundestag will try to demonstrate that it is not afraid of Turkey's
threats and it is ready to act with due regard for its own interests.

She added, however, that the resolution may be adopted with soft
wordings not to offend the Turkish ally. "Anyway, the adoption of the
resolution will be perceived as a step forward and we will continue or
efforts to hold Germany accountable," she said.

Meanwhile, Martin Dolzer, Member of the Hamburg Parliament from Die
Linke Party, is convinced that inclusion of the Armenian Genocide
issue in the curriculum will become an important step towards
enhancement of public awareness of the issue.

"When Bundestag recognizes the Armenian Genocide, the issue will move
off the dead center and we will be able to launch the process of
holding Germany accountable," he said.
To recall, on April 24, 2015, the German Bundestag held debates on the
resolution on recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Two-hour debates
resulted in a decision to put off the adoption till April 30. This
date has already been postponed for several times. Bundestag
President Norbert Lammert (Christian Democratic Union) opened the
debates to mark the centenary of the killings by himself directly
referring to the mass killings as genocide. He also touched on
Germany's complicity in the Armenian Genocide. The draft resolution
says that the fate of the Armenians is "an example of the history of
mass exterminations, ethnic cleansing, deportations and genocides that
left such a terrible mark on the 20th century." On February 25, 2016,
the German Bundestag held debates on the draft resolution on the
Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. The initiators of the
discussion were the Left Party and the Green Party. Chairman of the
Alliance '90/The Greens Party Cem Ozdemir prepared the draft
resolution. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was present at the
debates. A decision was taken to submit the document for follow-on
revision. It should be agreed with all political forces of the
Bundestag and prepared as a single document on behalf of all the
factions.

In early May 2016, German lawmaker Thomas Oppermann (Social Democratic
Party) said that on June 2 Bundestag will clearly qualify the mass
killings and deportation of Armenians during WWI as genocide. The
given statement caused the negative response of Turkey, which warned
Germany against adopting the resolution.

German lawmaker: “This time Genocide resolution will be adopted” (video)

17:02 | May 19,2016 | Politics

Three members of Germany’s Left Party are in Armenia. They have come
for two main objectives- the activities over the Armenian Genocide
issue and visit to Artsakh.

“We want to go to Artsakh and to see what is happening on the scene,”
noted lawmaker of Bundestag Ulla Jelpke. She is one of the authors and
pioneers of the resolution of the Armenian Genocide recognition in
Germany. She also wants to highlight the importance that the issue of
Germany’s liability is necessarily noted in the resolution to be
discussed at Bundestag on June 3. “We want to inform the German
society that at that time servicemen and generals were sent from
Germany to the Ottoman Empire, and Germany participated in the
implementation of the genocide,” highlighted Mrs. Jelpke.

Touching upon the tense situation in Artsakh and Four-day April war,
the lawmaker said, “We are concerned about the issue. I regret to say
that Turkish President Erdogan was among the first who made a
statement not calling for restraint but readiness to support
Azerbaijan.”

Hamburg Parliament’s MPs Martin Dolzer noted that they have been in
Armenian for 4 days, “We are impressed by your approach, your
culture.” He highlighted that the Germans know very well what the
genocide issue, historic reality mean. “Alas, even today our federal
government is engaged in close cooperation with Erdogan. The
government of Erdogan today is leading a destructive policy, and
according to our information, is even supporting Azerbaijan and is
taking part in the war.” The German figure noted that they are going
to publish a book on the Armenian Genocide.

Hasan Burgucuoglu, a member of the Altona Borough Council of Hamburg
has been to our country for the second time. “The adoption of that
resolution is very important to us. I hope that one day Turkey will
also come to senses and recognize the Armenian Genocide.”

To what extent is it realistic that the Turkish figures of Germany
will not vote down the adoption of resolution on the Armenian Genocide
recognition? “I am sure that this time the resolution will be adopted.
One of the reasons for it is that today there are many figures
displeased with the policy of Angela Merkel in Germany. She is accused
of cooperation with Erdogan over various deals.”

The authors of the German Parliament’s resolution on recognition of
the Armenian Genocide are confident that this time the bill will be
adopted. Some also believe that the passage of the resolution is first
of all necessary for Germany, which was an ally of Ottoman Turkey
during World War I.

The resolution officially describing the mass killings and
deportations of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire’s rule as genocide
is expected to be put to a vote in the Bundestag on June 2.

But the Turkish government has already warned Germany against taking the step.

The German lawmakers who have authored the legislation have been in
Armenia these days. During their visit they also traveled to Nagorno
Karabakh, which saw an aggression from Turkey’s regional ally,
Azerbaijan, last month.

At a press conference in Yerevan on Thursday, Bundestag member Ulla
Jelpke, a co-author of the bill, said she thinks it is important that
the resolution should also mention Germany’s responsibility.

“We want the German public to know that once Germany sent soldiers and
generals to the Ottoman Empire and Germany had its participation in
the perpetration of the genocide,” the lawmaker said.

Asked how realistic it is this time that Turkish lobbyists in Germany
will not scuttle the adoption of this resolution, the MP said: “I am
convinced that this time the resolution will be adopted. One of the
reasons is that now there are many politicians in Germany who are
displeased with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s policies. She is criticized
for cooperation on various deals with [Turkey’s president Recep
Tayyip] Erdogan.”

Director of the International Secretariat of the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau in Yerevan Giro Manoyan also
thinks that the adoption of the new resolution is very important for
Germany.

“It was not right for Germany, a nation that itself committed a
genocide, to try to steer clear of recognition by its 2005 decision,
saying that it was a genocide, according to experts. I think that
Germany has matured enough time to call things by their proper names,
and there are different political parties that are actively working on
this. Still last year, this resolution was put into circulation by
their Parliament, but for some political calculations it was not
passed. I think that this year it will be done, after all,” Manoyan
said.

According to the ARF representative, for Armenia the adoption of this
resolution is important also because Germany is a very influential
country in the world.

“The passage of such a resolution by a country with such a large
Turkish community will be a very important message for the whole
world, which will contribute to the process of the international
recognition, condemnation and eventually compensation for the
Genocide,” Manoyan concluded.

YEREVAN. – It is resentful that German Minister for Foreign Affairs
Frank-Walter Steinmeier allows himself to be pressured by Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said Ursula “Ulla” Jelpke, Left
Faction MP of the German Bundestag (parliament) and member of Die
Linke [(The Left)] Party of Germany.

She stated the aforesaid when commenting, at the request of Armenian
News-NEWS.am, on Steinmeier’s statement that he is quite pessimistic
regarding the Armenian Genocide resolution passing in the Bundestag.

“It is outrageous that a representative of the Social Democratic Party
[of Germany] is saying such a thing,” Jelpke noted. “It is clear that
he allows himself to remain under the pressure of Erdoğan. For that
reason, during the [Bundestag] debates on the genocide resolution on
June 2, we definitely will attack against Steinmeier.”

The Turkish government has cautioned Germany against classifying a
century-old Ottoman Empire campaign to deport and kill Armenians as
genocide.

The warning made on May 18 comes two weeks before the Bundestag, the
lower house of Germany’s parliament, is set to discuss the topic.

“Speaking about it without historical or legal proof is nothing other
than a misuse of political power,” said Turkish presidential spokesman
Ibrahim Kalin, as quoted by DPA, adding that the issue has actually
been put to rest, but is “continually put on the agenda again and
again under different pretexts.”

On May 9, one of the Vice Presidents of Bundestag, Claudia Roth,
remembered that Ambassador of Turkey to Germany, Huseyin Avni
Karslıoğlu, warned Bundestag about the draft bill on Recognizing the
Armenian Genocide and responded “We don’t accept it. I hope the groups
in parliament won’t obey Turkey once again and the draft will be
accepted as planned.”

The German government is set to vote on the resolution on June 2
whether to officially condemn the displacement and killings of
Armenians during the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

Armenia and about three dozen other countries refer to the deaths as
genocide, a designation Turkey has routinely disputed when the
question comes up in other countries.

More than 1.5 million people of the Christian minority were estimated
to have been killed during the Armenian Genocide in 1915. As the
successor to the Ottoman Empire, Turkey acknowledges some of the
killings, but vehemently denies that it constituted a genocide.

A proposed resolution calling on the German government to recognize
the early 20th-century Ottoman Empire’s violence against the Armenians
as genocide is important, as it may put an end to Turkey’s policy of
denial, lawmaker from Germany’s Left Party Sevim Dagdelen told Sputnik
Turkey.

ISTANBUL (Sputnik) — On Monday, German lawmakers proposed the
resolution, condemning the mass killings of Armenians ordered by the
Ottoman government during World War I as genocide, for a parliamentary
vote.

"I believe that this resolution is very important, because it can play
a major role in the rejection of Turkey's Genocide denial policy,"
Dagdelen said in the interview.

According to the lawmaker, the parliamentary vote, which is set to be
held on June 2, will be an important step in preparing the grounds for
a reconciliation between the Armenians and the Turks and in
establishing a dialogue between them.

The lawmaker said that she believes the resolution will be adopted by
the parliament. According to Dagdelen, the June parliamentary vote
will not result in serious tensions between Turkey and Germany.

According to some estimations, during and after World War I up to 1.5
million ethnic Armenians were killed by Ottoman authorities or starved
to death. Ottoman policy of ethnic violence was recognized by many
European countries and by the European Parliament as Armenian
genocide. Turkey dismisses any accusations of massacre, saying that
Turkish nationals were also victimized.

In June, the Bundestag intends to approve a resolution condemning the
century-old Ottoman massacre of Armenians by describing it as
"genocide." The nomenclature would anger Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan.

When German Chancellor Angela Merkel meets Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, she will presumably have to deal with his
anger at plans by a broad Bundestag coalition to describe the crimes
of the Ottoman Empire against ethnic Armenians as "genocide." For the
first time, the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and
Christian Social Union (CSU) parties and center-left Social Democrats
and Greens look set to make the nomenclature official.

There have been debates on the subject for years, and those ratcheted
up in the context of last year's centenary of the events that left
more than a million Armenians dead or deported from the land that
would become Turkey. Bundestag President Norbert Lammert and German
President Joachim Gauck have already used the term "genocide," which
provoked protests from Ankara. However, several attempts to reach
consensus on how to officially refer to the tragedy have been put off.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier remains skeptical as
to whether the Bundestag's likely position will be helpful in regards
to coming to terms with the past. A resolution that the Greens had
wanted to put forward back in February was postponed in order not to
sabotage negotiations as the European Union sought a controversial
deportation deal with Turkey when refugees continued to arrive in
large numbers. In return, Volker Kauder, the parliamentary leader of
the CDU-CSU bloc, shook hands with Greens co-chair Cem Özdemir and
promised that a joint resolution would move forward in the first half
of 2016. Though critics said Germany was caving on the issue once
again, Kauder appears to have kept his word.

"I'm going by the Bundestag's published timetable," Raffi Kantian, the
chairman of the Hanover-based German-Armenian Society, told DW.

And, indeed, the Bundestag website indicates that an hour has been set
aside on June 2 for agenda item No. 5: "Remembrance and Commemoration
of the Genocide of Armenians and Other Christian Minorities 101 Years
Ago." A CDU-CSU parliamentary spokeswoman confirmed that the session
would go ahead. After all, she said, the text of the resolution is
ready, having been prepared by no less than three parliamentary
working groups. However, there will not be a roll-call vote on the
declaration on June 2. This means that members of parliament will not
be obliged to attend. The resolution will be voted on by a show of
hands.

The majority of foreign policy specialists from the relevant parties
have given a clear signal that they will support the resolution.
"There may well be trouble with Ankara," Özdemir told the Sunday
edition of the mass-circulation broadsheet Bild. "But the Bundestag
does not allow itself to be blackmailed by a despot like Mr. Erdogan."
CDU-CSU foreign policy spokesman Franz-Josef Jung and Bernd Fabritius,
who represents the CSU in the human rights committee, both noted that
Germany had historical responsibility in the matter.

The centenary of the massacre was observed globally in 2015

Germany culpable, too

In 1915, the German Reich, a predecessor to the modern state, was
military protecting the Ottoman Empire in accordance with a strategic
wartime alliance. The German side received numerous indications of
atrocities and ethnic cleansing by the Young Turk government of the
day. According to scholarly estimates, as many as 1.5 million
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were deported and killed. The German
Reich did not intervene; furthermore, it guaranteed postwar asylum for
the responsible parties after they had been stripped of their power.

Germany now intends officially to apologize for this. Kantian, of the
German-Armenian Society, hopes that this apology will be part of the
final text to be approved on June 2. That much isn't certain yet, but
the Left party and the Greens have both demanded not only that the
term "genocide" be used but that Germany apologize.

The Greens even put as much in writing back in February: "The German
Bundestag regrets the inglorious role of the German Reich, which,
despite unequivocal information, including from German diplomats and
missionaries, about the organized expulsion and extermination of the
Armenians, did not attempt to stop these crimes against humanity."

Bundestag resolution on Armenian Genocide will condemn infamous role
of Germany: Bundestag Vice-President

May 24, 2016 14:14

The adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution which is going to be
discussed in German Bundestag on June 2, is very important in terms of
keeping always alive the memory of the violent crime, Edelgard
Bulmahn, Vice-President of the German Bundestag said this to
journalists in the National Assembly of Armenia.

“This resolution will firstly condemn the deportations, massacres and
violence against the Armenian and other people living in the Ottoman
Empire. We think that it is first and foremost important to keep alive
that memory. Thus, with this resolution we will commemorate the
victims of the Armenian Genocide, and will condemn the role of Germany
for being an ally of Turkey that time and not preventing that crime,”
Bundestag Vice-President stated.

Speaking about her country and German people on the issue of the
Holocaust recognition, she stated that taking a responsibility means a
commitment to transform this responsibility to the new generations.
“The number of people in Turkey, who face their history and criticize
the actions of their government during that times, is gradually
increasing,” she said. She added that they want to take a
responsibility over the reconciliation of the Armenian and Turkish
people, creating dialogue between them in order to jointly face the
history.

On June 2 the German Bundestag will vote on a resolution on the
recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman
Empire in 1915. The draft resolution has already become a cause of
harsh statements and threats by the Turkish leadership addressed to
Germany.

The resolution will be put to the vote and will be debated vigorously
to put pressure on Turkey, but in the end, it will not be accepted,
says Azhdar Kurtov, chief editor of the “Problems of National
Strategy” journal (RISS).

“This process is necessary in the first place not for the sake of
meeting the just aspirations of the Armenian people, but for the sake
of those games initiated by the European Union in its relations with
Turkey, where Germany plays the role of first violin,” told RUSARMINFO
Azhdar Kurtov.

According to the expert, the mere posing of the question on the
resolution adoption in the Bundestag during the acute crisis of
relations between Turkey and the European Union will become a
bargaining chip: if Erdogan does not comply with EU requirements, then
we will raise the issue of the Armenian Genocide.

Azhdar Kurtov believes that if not Angela Merkel’s policy, based on
Turkey in many important matters, the EU’s position on the recognition
of the Armenian Genocide would be radically different.

“The adoption of that document will mean that the bridges between
Turkey and the EU are burned, and Merkel will receive a strong blow to
her political ambitions. The same applies to Erdogan, to whose
political career the recognition of the Armenian Genocide will be no
less devastating blow,” noted the expert.

The initiators of the Bundestag resolution on the Armenian Genocide
are the “Left Party” and “Alliance 90 / The Greens”, the chairmen of
which have repeatedly spoken on this issue.

The German parliament is preparing a resolution that qualifies the
massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces as "genocide", a move that
risks stirring anger in Turkey.

Drawn up by the ruling left-right coalition and the opposition Greens,
the resolution "Remembrance and commemoration of the genocide of
Armenians and other Christian minorities in 1915 and 1916" will be put
to a vote in the lower house of parliament next week.

The draft resolution, seen by AFP on Thursday, carries the word
"genocide" throughout the text, and comes just over a year after
President Joachim Gauck used it to describe the massacre, drawing an
angry response from Turkey.

Referring to the atrocities against the Armenians, the draft text
says: "Their fate exemplifies the mass exterminations, the ethnic
cleansing, the expulsions and indeed the genocides that marked the
20th century in such a terrible way."

As Gauck said at the centenary commemoration of the massacre, the
resolution also states that the "German Empire bears partial
responsibility for the events."

"The Bundestag recognises the special historical responsibility of
Germany. That includes giving Turkey and Armenia the support they need
to put the past behind them, and to seek ways of understanding and
reconciliation," says the draft text.

It adds that the "reconciliation process has been stuck in the last
years and urgently needs new stimulus".

Sevim Dagdelen: Historic vote on Armenian Genocide will take place on June 2

00:37, 28.05.2016

YEREVAN. – A historic vote will occur in Germany's Bundestag on June
2, MP from the Left Party, member of the Bundestag's Committee on
Foreign Affais Sevim Dağdelen said in an e-mail interview with
Armenian News-NEWS.am.

What are your expectations from this vote?

This will be a historic vote. For the first time, a document that
clearly and unequivocally recognizes the Armenian Genocide will be
presented in Bundestag taking into account the views of the
overwhelming parliamentary majority. Thus, the demands of the Left
group have been taken into account. We have always been against ruling
coalition's false respect for denial policy pursued by the Turkish
government in relation to the Armenian Genocide .

It is a scandal, a large coalition in the Bundestag was not ready to
talk about the Genocide in order not to jeopardize close military
cooperation with Turkey within NATO. Now the term "genocide" is used
in the title of a draft resolution. This is a great success, the
victory of justice, the victory of enlightenment.

Why do you think Germany has not recognized the Armenian Genocide yet?

This resolution is also a victory over 101-year-old Germany's denial,
and first of all non-recognition of Germany's complicity. During the
last 100 years denial was practically the policy of the state
expediency in Germany.

Ever since MP Karl Liebknecht raised the issue of the Armenian
Genocide in Reichstag in 1916, it has been the policy of the state.
The then Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg had the motto: “We need to keep
Turkey with us until the end of the war, even if Armenians die because
of it.” Nowadays, the arms supplies to Turkey continue, even if the
Kurds are killed because of it.

Today the German Bundestag gives the green light to Turkey's Erdogan
by supplying weapons, knowing that the war against the Kurds is
carried out with these weapons. Bundestag stands next to its NATO
ally, despite the fact that they know that the Islamist terrorist
groups leave Turkey for Armenian-populated villages of Syria, for
example Kessab, and organize destruction of minorities. The Lefts have
long demanded to finally include the item on the complicity of the
German Reich.

In this sense, the vote of June 2, 2016 will be a historic one because
the state will put an end to the policy of expediency of denying
complicity of the German Reich on the Armenian Genocide.

Turkey and President Erdogan demand that Bundestag should not use the
term “genocide” in the resolution. How adoption of this resolution may
affect relations between Turkey and Germany?

Erdogan has turned himself into a mouthpiece of those who carried out
the genocide in 1915. Thus, he wants to keep control over the
Islamists and nationalists to make them approve his actions.

Erdogan uses jargon of those who carried out the genocide in 1915. He
calls terrorists all those who criticize him. The killed residents of
Kurdish-populated regions of Turkey appear to blame for their own
death. The same, he says, while referring to the Armenians. Genocide
deniers say that the Armenians are to blame; they died because they
are terrorists.

Genocidal thinking still exists in certain circles of Turkish society.
The purpose of this is to receive the support of the majority of
population to form a system of their overwhelming superiority. This is
the reason that making it clear is so important. Moreover, for this
reason it is important so that the Bundestag could not concede
Erdogan.

With regard to the relationship, it is possible that Mr. Erdogan will
resort to new attempts of exerting pressure. However, in the long
term, breaking of mythical stereotypes on concealing the fact of
genocide and Germany’s participation will strengthen the
Turkish-German relations. Only a frank recognition and enlightenment
can open the way to reconciliation and a shared future.

Berlin (dpa) - Turkish activist groups demonstrated Saturday in Berlin
against a scheduled vote in the German Parliament that could see the
government categorize the killing of Armenians during the Ottoman
Empire as genocide.

In central Berlin, about 1,000 people carried Turkish flags and
chanted mottos about how the German government is not the correct
authority to make war crimes findings.

The German government is set to vote Thursday on whether to officially
condemn the displacement and killings of Armenians during the Ottoman
Empire as "genocide."

Armenia and 20 other countries refer to the deaths as a genocide, a
designation Turkey has routinely disputed when the question comes up
in other countries.

Between 800,000 to 1.5 million members of the Christian minority were
estimated to have died during the Armenian massacre in 1915. As the
successor to the Ottoman Empire, Turkey acknowledges some of the
killings, but vehemently denies that they constitute genocide.

Several members of the German Parliament, particularly those with
Turkish ancestry, have come under pressure to reject the upcoming
vote.

Cem Ozdemir, head of the opposition Greens, has reported several
instances of slander via Facebook and Twitter in which he has been
called a "traitor," "Armenian pig," "Armenian terrorist" or "Nazi."

The Turkish government has cautioned Germany against classifying the
Ottoman Empire campaign as genocide.

"Speaking about it without historical or legal proof is nothing other
than a misuse of political power," Turkish presidential spokesman
Ibrahim Kalin said two weeks ago.

German MPs have approved a motion describing the massacre of Armenians
by Ottoman forces a century ago as genocide – a decision that Turkey’s
prime minister said would “test” relations between the two countries
at a sensitive time.

The five-page resolution, co-written by parliamentarians from the
Christian Democrats, Social Democrats and Green party, calls for a
“commemoration of the genocide of Armenian and other Christian
minorities in the years 1915 and 1916”. It passed with support from
all the parties in parliament. In a show of hands, there was one
abstention and one vote against.

Turkish governments have always rejected the use of the term genocide
to describe the massacre and expulsion of an estimated 1.5 million
Armenians and members of Christian minorities in the Ottoman empire.

Speaking before the vote on Thursday, Turkey’s prime minister
described the ballot as “a real test of the friendship” between his
country and Germany. “Some nations that we consider friends, when they
are experiencing trouble in domestic policy, attempt to divert
attention from it,” Binali Yıldırım said at a meeting of his Justice
and Development party. “This resolution is an example of that.”

On Wednesday he had gone further, saying the ballot was “ridiculous”
and arguing that the killings were an “ordinary” wartime event.
Yıldırım repeated the warning from the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan, that bilateral ties would be damaged by Germany’s decision to
call the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces a genocide.

“It’s a ridiculous vote,” Yıldırım said. “[This] was one of many
ordinary events that can happen in any country, in any society under
the conditions of world war one. We know that those who want Turkey to
pay the bill for it do not have good intentions.”

Yıldırım moved to allay fears that the EU refugee deal with Turkey,
championed by Angela Merkel, would be put under further strain by the
vote, saying: “We are loyal to the agreements we have made. The EU
should stand by its word in the same way. We are not a tribal state,
we are the Turkish republic, a country with a deeply rooted
tradition.”

The agreement to return migrants arriving on the Greek islands to
Turkey has in recent months reduced the number of refugees arriving in
central Europe, easing pressure on Merkel, the German chancellor. But
Erdoğan has since repeatedly questioned the conditions of the deal,
with members of his party threatening to cancel the agreement
altogether.

“But we have also seen that an honest and self-critical appraisal of
the past does not endanger relations with other countries,” he said.
“In fact, it is a precondition for understanding, reconciliation and
cooperation.”

He said Turkey’s current government is not responsible for what
happened 100 years ago, “but it shares responsibility for what happens
with it in the future”.

Some historians argue that Germany, a close ally of the Ottoman empire
during the first world war, was aware of the massacre at the time and
supported it politically. The Bundestag’s resolution contains a
passage acknowledging “the German Reich’s complicity in the events”,
as well as six references to the Holocaust.

Twenty governments, including those of France, Italy and Russia, have
in the past described the mass killings of Armenians as a genocide,
and Pope Francis referred to the killings as “the first genocide of
the 20th century” in 2015. The German president, Joachim Gauck, also
used the phrase in a speech in April last year.

Thursday’s vote was originally scheduled for last year, but was put on
ice due to pressure from Germany’s governing coalition, reportedly for
fear of destabilising Turkish-German relations. A revised draft of the
resolution was brought back to the Bundestag largely due to the
efforts of the Green party’s Turkish-German co-chair Cem Özdemir.

Merkel was not in the Bundestag for the vote because of other
commitments, including a meeting with the Nato secretary general, Jens
Stoltenberg.

Armenia welcomes the adoption of the resolution by the German
Bundestag on recognition of the Genocide committed against Armenians
and other Christian peoples.

“German President Joachim Gauck’s statement on the 100th anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide, along with this Bundestag resolution, is a
valuable contribution not only to the process of international
recognition and condemnation of the Armenian genocide but also to the
fight for prevention of genocides and crimes against humanity,”
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said in a statement.

“Germany and Austria, two former allies of the Ottoman Empire
acknowledge their share of responsibility in the perpetration of the
Armenian Genocide, while the Turkish authorities keep denying the
obvious fact of the genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire,”
Minister Nalbandian said.

“The international community has been waiting for Turkey to face its
history for 101 years,” the Foreign Minister said.

The same song and dance routine, admit it and move forward if you can!

Turkey recalls Berlin envoy after Armenia Genocide vote

16:12, 02 Jun 2016
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Ankara called back its ambassador to Berlin in protest after German
MPs voted through a resolution to call the killing of Armenians by the
Ottoman Empire a genocide on Thursday.

The Turkish government has described the Bundestag’s approval of the
Armenian genocide bill “null and void,” the Hurriyet Daily News
reports.

“The fact that the German Parliament approved distorted and baseless
claims as genocide is a historic mistake. The German Parliament’s
approval of this bill is not a decision in line with friendly
relations between Turkey and Germany. This decision is null and void
for Turkey,” Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said.

“This is an issue that scientists and historians need to reach a
conclusion on, not politicians or parliaments. As Turkey, we will
surely give the necessary response to this decision in all platforms,”
he added.

Meanwhile, Turkish Ambassador to Berlin Hüseyin Avni Karslıoglu has
been recalled toAnkara for consultations over the decision.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavuşoglu took to Twitter to criticize the vote.

“The way to close dark pages in [Germany’s] own history is not to
defame the history of other countries with irresponsible and baseless
parliament decisions,” Cavuşoğlu tweeted.

Turks can from now on be unafraid to admit Armenian Genocide - Krzysztof Jabłonka

19:27 • 02.06.16

The Armenian Genocide resolution adopted by the German Bundestag will help all the Turks opposing official Ankara and admitting the facts, Mr Krzysztof Jabłonka, Head of the East Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, told Tert.am.

Mr Jabłonka, as a historian, what is your opinion of the Armenian Genocide resolution passed by the German Bundestag?

We should not be surprised. It is a normal process. The crime committed in 1915 cannot be called anything but genocide. And it is especially important for Germany to specify its position on the Armenian Genocide as Germany was Ottoman Turkey’s ally in those years. Germany admitted the fact of the Jewish Holocaust and could not fail to recognize the Armenian Genocide. They faced up to history and could not deny historical truth.

Will this resolution influence Turkey’s policy toward the fact of the Armenian Genocide in any way? What needs to happen for Turkey to admit the Armenian Genocide?

As far as I am concerned, Turkey is seriously split over it. Some people admit the fact of the Armenian Genocide. It is time to accept the facts for this issue not to remain unsettled, and it is Turkey that primarily needs it. However, according Turkey’s official position, admitting the Armenian Genocide is a crime. But the resolution passed by the German Bundestag will help all those opposing official Ankara’s position. The Turks not opposing the truth will not fear to oppose the official lies. Reality must be accepted to get rid of all the problems.

Will German-Turkish relations worsen? Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Germany.

I do not think so. This is just the first response. Turkey cannot make a demarche because of a large Turkish community in Germany. Turks will just have one more occasion to face up to their history. Especially Turks living in Germany have to face up to it as the topic is being discussed and may overcome the fear to voice their opinions. Any lies at the state level must remain outside European borders.

YEREVAN, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS. Alexander Kudascheff, editor-in-chief of
Deutsche Welle, has referred to the adoption of the resolution
recognizing and condemning the Armenian genocide by the Bundestag.
“Armenpress” reports, citing Deutsche Welle, Kudascheff noted that
there's nothing wrong with parliamentarians approving a symbolic
motion to label the genocide of the Armenian people a genocide. But he
wants to understand why the German parliament did that, and what the
reason was.

“Understanding that these mass killings were genocide, and accepting
that this genocide is part of your history, is something with which
the Turks have to come to grips. They have to face up to their past.
They're the ones who should have Franz Werfel's poignant novel about
the ordeal the Armenian people suffered during World War I, "The 40
Days of Musa Dagh," translated into Turkish. They should make the book
mandatory reading in schools”, Kudascheff wrote.

He added that the Turks must face their past and the German
parliament is not the one that should do it for them. “Germany may be
something of a role model for others when it comes to facing up to its
own past”, the author says.

The editor-in-chief of the DW mentions that the German parliamentary
resolution is a morally honorable gesture, as was that of the French
National Assembly a few years ago.

According to a statement released by the Turkish-German Solidarity
Platform, the press release issued by Turkish nongovernmental
organizations protesting the "Armenian Genocide" resolution in the
German parliament on June 2 was rejected by German newspapers. While
German media outlets have criticized Turkey over freedom of
expression, the latest move, which included the omission of the
statement concerning 3 million Turks in Germany, drew strong
criticism.

Germany's leading newspapers, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die Welt and Der Tagesspiegel refused to print
the press release, while Der Tagesspiegel initially agreed to publish
the statement but later indicated it will not be published. Metropol
FM, a popular radio channel broadcasting in Turkish, included an
announcement about the public meeting organized by the Turkish
community in the news section, but did not mention the protest
statement. The Berlin Metro also changed its mind about hanging
posters announcing the meeting in metro stations due to posters titled
"Genocide Lie."

The press release by the Turkish-German Solidarity Platform said the
bill regarding the "commemoration of the genocide of Armenian and
other Christian minorities in the years 1915 and 1916," which was
approved on Wednesday by the Federal Assembly of Germany, will be
unrecognized by the platform. The statement further stressed that the
Federal Assembly is not authorized to make a decision about such
historical debates, which has also been reflected by the European
Court of Human Rights. The press release indicated that the incidents
took place during World War I and needs to be evaluated in terms of
scientific, historical and legal terms as well as by an objective and
international organization instead of the German parliament. Stressing
that Turkey had already made a request about 10 years ago to launch an
investigation by an objective history committee and that Germany has
not taken any supporting actions thus far, the solidarity urged German
deputies to object to the resolution. The platform added that they
will not let such genocide debates cause hatred or hostility between
the Turkish and the Armenian nations.

The Turkish-German Solidarity Platform consisting of Turkish
nongovernmental organizations in Germany held a public meeting on June
2, with the participation of the Turkish artists Uğur Işılak, Cengiz
Özkan and Cem Çelebi.

In what has become an almost annual exercise, Turkey has thrown a fit
because someone has spoken the truth about its dark past. This time,
it has pulled its ambassador from Berlin and threatened dire
consequences over a resolution, passed overwhelmingly by the German
Parliament on Thursday, declaring that the century-old massacre of
Ottoman Armenians was a genocide. That is what Turkey does every time
a foreign government dares to challenge its discredited claim that the
Armenians perished in the cruel fog of World War I, and not in a
premeditated attempt to eradicate a people. Germany’s claims to the
contrary, Turkish legislators huffed in a statement, are “based on
biased, distorted and various subjective political motives.”

No, it was a genocide, the first of the 20th century. Historians have
established beyond reasonable doubt that as many as 1.5 million
Armenians were deliberately killed or sent on death marches in 1915-16
by the disintegrating Ottoman Empire, fearful that they and other
Christian minorities could side with Russia in the war.

For Armenians, millions of whom were left scattered around the world,
gaining recognition that the slaughter was a genocide — a deliberate
atrocity, and not collateral damage — has been a long and passionate
national mission, which has resulted in formal recognition by more
than 20 countries.

The Armenians are fully justified in their quest for a historical
reckoning. But the more the world has recognized that, the more
aggressively Turkey has stormed and shouted. A couple of years ago,
when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was still a relatively
broad-minded prime minister, he seemed prepared to take a more
conciliatory stance on the Armenian issue. It never happened, and the
increasingly autocratic Mr. Erdogan warned Germany’s chancellor,
Angela Merkel, in advance that relations with Germany — “bilateral,
diplomatic, economic, trade, political and military” — would be
damaged by the resolution.

Mr. Erdogan’s threats are not without effect. Turkey is a crucial NATO
ally in the upheavals of the Middle East, and especially important to
Germany and the European Union as they try to stem the flow of Syrian
refugees. Ms. Merkel was not present for the vote, though she did not
oppose it. President Obama, who as a candidate in 2008 pledged to
recognize the events of 1915 as a genocide, has failed to do so.

The damage done to Turkey’s relations with the Armenians and its NATO
allies is the responsibility of that large majority of Turks who
refuse to acknowledge a dark blot on their history, not those who seek
to commemorate the tragedy. The Germans, who have admirably confronted
the terrible genocide in their own history, did the right thing in
defying Mr. Erdogan’s threats.